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Reminiscing about the football festival

It was a life's experience, he describes the World Cup extravaganza

P.P. Lakshmanan

An official delegate of

FIFA to Germany, he tells Mohamed Nazeer about his experiences about the extravaganza.

There is hardly any area of social life where he has not had a stint. A businessman, P.P. Lakshmanan is equally at ease with various public positions he has held over the years. Now back from Germany, where he stayed for over a month during the World Cup as an official delegate of FIFA, he is savouring his experiences gained during the fabulous football festival.

One of the 13 members of the FIFA appeal committee, Mr. Lakshmanan was a close witness to the extent to which soccer could make the "whole world happier and more peaceful," to quote the FIFA president.

"It was a life's experience,'' Mr. Lakshmanan told The Hindu . Very few cases had come before the appeal committee, which was the final panel for appeal, said Mr. Lakshmanan, who was one of the two officials delegates from India, the other being All-India Football Federation (AIFF) president and Union Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, who was a member of the FIFA disciplinary committee.

"All the 32 countries that participated in the World Cup represent 20 per cent of the world population, while China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Canada and most of the Latin American countries, representing 80 per cent of the world population, did not participate in the event,'' he said.

Asked about his impression about the teams that played for the cup, he said there was a marked difference between Latin American/European, African and Asian teams. "African predominance was seen everywhere. Even though some Asian countries qualified for the World Cup, you find that Asians were always underdogs there.''

Asian countries, except Iran, could not afford to spend millions of dollars on football, though the Arab countries gave top priority to this game.

"Even if Asians excel in techniques, physically, they are not on a par with Europeans and Africans,'' he said.

Having got a chance to see a coaching programme of a team during his visit in Germany, he was of the view that coaching in Europe and Latin America was an accomplished programme. "Every aspect of the players' life there is looked after by expert professionals, including trainers and sports medicine and nutrition experts.'' In India, he said, sports medicine, which was the most essential part of getting a player ready, was only introduced partially. "We are all like old traditional people. We know the subject, but the exact intricacies are known only to the professionals.'' In western countries, such as Germany, soccer stadiums had been built centuries ago, he pointed out.

Mr. Lakshmanan was also captivated by the response of the football fans. Outside the field, the fans encouraged their national teams. "They became hysterical when their team loses, and when it wins, their joy knows no bounds,'' he said.

For Mr. Lakshmanan, who discontinued his education after he reached the 10th standard, football is an obsession. Born in a poor family, he left for Africa when he was 17. He had served as stationmaster in the railway in Tanzania, where he had also played football for its team. When he came back in 1959, he entered the field of business. Since then, he has been actively involved in the social and political life of his home district of Kannur. He served as president of the District Football Federation, Kerala Football Federation and secretary of the AIFF. He also served as chairman of the Kannur municipality.

Mr. Lakshmanan said that it was during his tenure as AIFF secretary that the national football league was introduced. He had also taken steps to improve the status of players and making them well off. Reminiscing about the national football player V.P. Sathyan, who died recently, he said that Sathyan was excellent in his behaviour and his commitment to football and the nation.

Apart from football, he is actively involved in rehabilitation of street children. The trust he is heading has signed an MoU with Kannur Bishop Varghese Chakkalakkal to adopt 100 street children. The Bishop bought land here for sheltering them, and the trust is offering financial assistance to them. "Our plan is to start a school and vocational training centre for street children,'' he said.

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